School behavior in adolescent children of parents with mental disorder.

This study examined teachers' evaluations of adolescent children of parents who had been hospitalized for mental disorder. Classroom behavior of these children as well as that of children of parents with physical illness was compared to that of adolescents whose parents had not been hospitalized for mental disorder. Both DSM-III and DSM-II categorizations were used. Two teacher-rated instruments were used. Adolescents with a parent with DSM-III diagnoses of schizophrenia and major affective disorder, as compared to children of nonill parents, were rated as less motivated, less harmonious, less stable, more dogmatic, and more verbally negative. Differences among children of parents with other diagnoses were generally less striking. Results using DSM-II diagnoses were similar to but weaker than those using DSM-III.